The deep seafloor could provide humans with supplies of valuable metals, but opinion is divided as to whether sustainable exploitation is possible and worth the ecological and economic risk.
seafloor
Posted inEditors' Vox
Mesmerized by Gracefully Gliding Albatrosses
Despite avian distractions and dreadful weather, a research cruise to map the seafloor off Alaska revealed new insights into the Queen Charlotte Fault.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Modeling Ocean Waves over Rocky Reefs
A field survey in Australia links rugged seafloor terrain to erosion-causing waves.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Impacts of “Bomb” Cyclones Reach the Ocean Floor
Japanese researchers study explosive cyclones with models to simulate decades of ocean circulation data.
Posted inScience Updates
A 1.4-Billion-Pixel Map of the Gulf of Mexico Seafloor
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management releases the highest-resolution bathymetry map of the region to date.
Posted inNews
Ancient Methane Seeps Tell Tale of Sudden Warming
Newly discovered rock mounds left by ancient methane seeps give scientists clues that methane on ancient ocean floor was released by ancient global warming.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Iceberg Surge During Last Deglaciation May Have Had Two Pulses
Seafloor sediment cores provide new clues that could help clarify the influence of ice sheet collapse on a period of ocean cooling marked by slowed deepwater circulation.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Happens When Ocean Eddies Hit a Wall?
A new study tracks two ocean eddies passing over the Pacific Ocean's Izu-Ogasawara Ridge.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Could Subsea Methane Hydrates Be a Warming “Tipping Point”?
The authors of a recent paper in Reviews of Geophysics answer questions about the potential for subsea methane hydrates to contribute to global warming.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Mountain Range's History Preserved in Ocean Sediments
Fission track dating core samples from the Gulf of Alaska demonstrates that offshore sediments can be used to reconstruct a mountain range's changing exhumation patterns.